THUNE: NET NEUTRALITY NOT A BALLOT BOX ISSUE— Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) says the average American is not likely to be swayed in the 2018 midterms by Senate Democrats forcing a vote on reinstating the net neutrality rules. “I think they see it as a really hot political issue [that] gets their base kind of energized. But most people, if their Netflix works, I’m not sure what the argument is,” he told John on Tuesday, suggesting there’s “not a great sense of urgency” spurring people “to go out and vote because of net neutrality.”

—And forget much bipartisan negotiation on open internet legislation until Democrats’ Congressional Review Act vote is in the rearview mirror, Thune added. Lawmakers “need to get the CRA issue probably behind us before Democrats are going to be sufficiently motivated to get a legislative solution,” he predicted, citing conversations with Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and “others” on legislating. More than 40 Senate Democrats back a CRA vote now, including Nelson and Schatz, but “it’s not going to be enacted” even if passes the Senate, Thune said, doubting it could even do that: “So the Democrats at some point, I think, ought to come to the realization that the best way to get certainty on this issue and a path forward with clear rules is through legislation.”

— CRA chugs along: The CRA measure from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) picked up its first Republican backing in the form of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has said she opposes the FCC’s decision to undo the rules. Right-leaning group FreedomWorks, which is in favor of Chairman Ajit Pai’s repeal push, criticized Collins’ move as a “knee-jerk” effort made in the favor of “political expediency.”

BREAKING ON DACA — ”A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's effort to shut-down the Obama-era program that provides quasi-legal status and work permits to foreigners who entered the U.S. illegally as children,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports. “In a ruling Tuesday evening, San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge William Alsup ordered the administration to resume accepting renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA. … If the judge's order remains in place, it could also roil ongoing legislative efforts on DACA by undercutting the urgency many advocates have expressed, calling for legislation to be passed before large numbers of Dreamers begin losing their protected status in March.” Tech giants including Microsoft and Facebook have pressed for a bill that would enshrine DACA protections into law. Alsup’s name may also ring a bell. That’s because he’s presided over several tech cases including the ongoing Uber-Waymo suit on trade secrets.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK — Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle unveiled the latest additions to various committees on Tuesday, with Democrats putting some new faces on the Commerce and Judiciary panels. Sen. Jon Tester, of Montana, is now a member of the Commerce Committee, while Sens. Kamala Harris, of California, and Cory Booker, of New Jersey, join the ranks of the Judiciary Committee. Tester has been a longtime advocate for rural broadband, while Harris and Booker have both weighed in on a slew of tech issues including net neutrality and antitrust. Republicans didn’t make any addition to these two committees.

CES SPOTLIGHT ON TRANSPORTATION — Today, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is scheduled to discuss the future of transportation policy in the U.S., a conversation that could touch on everything from self-driving cars to drones.

DEMS INTRODUCE EQUIFAX LEGISLATION — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have introduced the Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act in response to last year’s cybersecurity attack on credit reporting agency Equifax. That breach left the personal information of more than 145 million Americans potentially exposed. The legislation would require the Federal Trade Commission to impose a mandatory financial penalty on credit reporting agencies when personal information is stolen. The hit would amount to $100 for each person who has one piece of personal information breached and $50 for each additional piece of stolen information. Companies that fail to meet FTC cybersecurity standards could face stiffer fines. The bill would then require the FTC to distribute 50 percent of the fine to consumers as a form of compensation. A newly created Office of Cybersecurity would oversee and enforce cybersecurity rules at credit reporting agencies. Read the bill text here.

SENATE INTEL UPDATE — With Twitter’s response still to come, the Senate Intel Committee plans to make public the answers from the three tech giants once it receives all of them, Ashley reports. "I'm disappointed. I've been disappointed throughout this. Twitter has been oftentimes the slowest to respond," Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel, told reporters in the Capitol today. A Twitter spokesperson said the company is still working with committee investigators on its answers and that it plans to finalize its response soon but didn’t give a reason for the missed deadline.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re hunkering down with some soup dumplings. Send your tech and telecom tips to lzhou@politico.com and @liszhou. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after Quick Downloads.

Driverless Cars and the Future of Mobility — At the 2018 North American International Auto Show, POLITICO will host a live panel conversation on the future of transportation and autonomous vehicles: What are the sticking points? Will there be a mobility revolution for older Americans and people with disabilities? Speakers include: Joan Claybrook, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety; Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio); Sherif Marakby, Ford Motor Company; Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.); Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.). Jan. 16, 2018 — Doors open 10:45 a.m. — Main Stage, Cobo Center — 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit. RSVP: here.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR — The Senate Commerce Committee is bringing tech giants back to the Hill for a hearing on extremist propaganda and social platforms on Jan. 17. Facebook head of global policy management Monika Bickert, YouTube global head of public policy Juniper Downs and Twitter director of public policy Carlos Monje are all slated to testify.

YOUTUBE UPDATES COMING— The video-sharing service, a subsidiary of Google, fired off several tweets late Tuesday responding to the outcry over a controversial clip — later removed by the YouTuber who posted it — hosted on its platform that showed a suicide victim’s body. “It’s taken us a long time to respond, but we’ve been listening to everything you’ve been saying,” YouTube tweeted, acknowledging frustration at the company’s silence. “We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.”

THERE MUST BE SOME WRAY OUT OF HERE — The Trump administration’s fight to persuade tech companies to voluntarily use warrant-compatible encryption continued Tuesday when FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed Fordham University’s International Conference on Cybersecurity in New York. As he and others have done many times before, Wray implied that tech companies like Apple that use unbreakable encryption are being irresponsible, telling his audience that commercial security protections “need to be thoughtfully designed so they don’t undermine the lawful tools we need to keep this country safe.” For the first time, Wray also put a specific number on the size of the “going dark” problem, reporting that the FBI was unable to access 7,775 encrypted devices during fiscal 2017. (He offered a rough figure in House testimony in December.)

STORMY PALLONE— A Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday shows the FCC lacked plans “to actively communicate information” about the Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, an industry-led plan for how telecom carriers respond during emergencies, to relevant parties. “This report shows that we have made some progress on network resiliency since Superstorm Sandy, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done,” House Energy and Commerce Committee top Democrat Frank Pallone, of New Jersey, said. The FCC agreed with GAO’s recommendations to “work with industry to develop specific performance measures for the Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, monitor the framework’s outcomes, and promote awareness of it.”

INFRASTRUCTURE MEETINGS UNDERWAY— Trump administration officials are set to be on Capitol Hill today “talking to my staff” about its infrastructure proposal, Thune told reporters Tuesday, noting his staffers have offered the White House ideas. The package, which may not be released until after the State of the Union on Jan. 30, is likely to address broadband in one way or another and could be a vehicle for lawmakers’ broadband proposals. “I don’t think there’s anything that’s really started to solidify yet,” Thune said of the White House plan. “I think we’re probably a ways off from a final infrastructure answer but a lot of good ideas in the works. The question is how you pay for it.”

— Thune presses Apple: The Senate Commerce Chairman has written a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, probing the company’s reasoning for an operating system update that reduces performance on older iPhones. “I would like to understand Apple’s rationale behind these software updates to throttle back processing performance, how it provided notice to its consumers and how the company plans to address matter going forward,” he writes.

SILICON VALLEY MUST-READS —

— Uber settles with New York drivers: “Uber Technologies agreed to pay up to $3 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of 2,421 drivers in New York who accused the ride-sharing company of docking excessive fees from their fares,” Reuters reports.

— Huawei to sell phone online: After AT&T pulled out of a deal to sell Huawei smartphones in the U.S., the Chinese company made a Plan B to sell its phones in the U.S., The Verge reports. “If you live in America and do really want the Mate 10 Pro, though, you will at least be able to buy it online this spring through Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers.” Plus, Verizon is being pressured to drop a Huawei product it was planning to sell later this year, according to a report from Android Police.

— T-Mobile’s IoT play: “T-Mobile launched what it said is the nation’s first narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) service plan for customers looking to provide connectivity to a range of devices,” Fierce Wireless reports.

TRANSITIONS — Adam Eisgrau heads to the Association for Computing Machinery as its director of global policy and public affairs. He was previously the head of government affairs for the American Library Association . … Mahsau Daee has joined the Internet Association as senior communications manager. She comes to the tech industry trade group from Burson-Marsteller. ... Ashley Berrang, previously the communications director for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), is now the senior vice president of external affairs at tech industry trade group ITI.

QUICK DOWNLOADS

Lenovo’s take on taxes: “Lenovo Group Ltd said on Wednesday it expected to make a one-off charge of $400 million for nine months ended in December due to a reassessment of U.S. deferred tax assets,” Reuters reports.

Speaking of taxes: According to a Financial Times report, Apple has been saddled with a hefty 136 million pound tax bill in the UK, following an audit. 9to5Mac has a roundup, here.